MTN extends deadline for RCom talks

 Sources said the safeguards could take the form of granting veto right on crucial decisions like fresh investments to the black management or a board dominated by their representatives.  Under affirmative action policies, companies need to vest at least 25 per cent of their equity and 40 to 50 per cent of their management control in blacks.  The extension of the deadline for exclusive talks comes despite threat of a legal battle between Anil Ambani and his brother Mukesh over a 2006 family agreement that gives either sibling the right of first refusal over any share sale in group companies. Bankers anticipated that a legal dispute would prompt MTN to call off negotiations.  A day before the deadline for the exclusive talks expired, Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL)invoked the dispute resolution clause of the non-compete agreement against RCom after it claimed that company officials of the telco did not come for a conciliation meeting offered in a letter sent the week before. RCom officials replied that they were willing to meet in the week of July 14, which RIL rejected.  The RCom stock went up 6.15 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange today closing at Rs 440.95, even as the company issued a cautionary statement for anyone dealing with its shares to exercise restraint.